I used to be sort of anti-cherry. Apparently I used to sort of be anti-good things. This summer I rediscovered the dark rich burgundy colored, waxy-shiny, firm juicy, addictive cherry. After work I’d come home and have a glass of soy milk and a handful of cherries. On the way to work I’d jam a cup of cherries in the cup holder and throw the pits out the window on the highway. Possibly dangerous, flying pits at 60 mph, but delightfully empowering. When I wasn’t endangering the public, Grandma and I were dreaming of clafoutis. Months later I finally made the old school French dish. Great success. And startlingly easy. The Frenchies say to leave the pit in as it “imparts a nutty flavor” but we’re le sissy Americans and I pitted our cherries with my makeshift-pitter (straw) before baking them. Clafoutis: dish, cherries,  eggs + yolk, sugar, heavy cream, flour. Bake. Love. It’s very custardy and dense and eggy. Walking the fine line between custard and cake like a champ.

Oft-dreamed of French dessert #2: Cremets. Which I’ve decided to call “cremettes” because it’s 1. more fun to say and 2. sounds cuter. Grandma stumbled upon a treasure trove of French bakeware at an estate sale in Boise, and is now a proud owner of many lovely tart pans and madeline pans and various and sundry kitchen treasures. This collection includes these little heart shaped ceramic molds that have perforated bottoms and little feet. After some speculation and research we decided they’re definitely cremette dishes. So we had to make cremettes. Clearly. Cremette = Whipped cream + Whipped egg whites. That’s all. Line the molds with cheesecloth and let them sit for a couple hours before unmolding. Dad described it as “a little higher than whipped cream on the viscosity scale.” True. And topped with blackberry sauce. Which takes us to the market portion of our show. There’s a little fruit/veg stand on the way out of McCall once or twice a week, and I always want to go but somehow never have. So when we passed the inviting little stand of fresh producey goodness on the way home from a hike I demanded that we stop. And I was immediately overwhelmed by joy. And got: the best green beans of my life (I ate some raw, that good), corn (which the farm guy said is the best corn on the earth), two perfect peaches, two perfect perfect melons, and a little basket of truly the most amazing blackberries. (all for… drumroll.. $11.75! What!?) Now, these blackberries were not even just the best blackberries, not even just best fruit. One of the best things out out everything in the whole world.  Jammed with sour sweet earthy heaven, I made everyone be quiet and reverently eat a blackberry or two. And though it broke my heart a little to defile them, this afternoon I smashed them up with some lemon and sugar and cooked them a tiny bit to make a lovely little sauce for les cremettes. (P.S. you must say it like “crrrrremettes!!”) The produce stand corn got boiled and grilled with either lemon and thyme (creamed corn theme) or cinnamon and red pepper (for the spicy guys.) The green beans were sauteed in…bacon fat. Goodness abounds.

Choosing melons. Hard task.

Market story #2: Was wandering around the McCall Farmer’s Market last weekend, knelt down to take a picture of this cutie cute cake stand, stood up, lovely cake lady says “You must be anna cotta!” Pshh why yes indeed! What! I’m famous. Ok no not really.

Connection: Stacey Cakes is married to a local chef who I sent a resume to! Anyway. She has my life. She bakes all the pastries for Evening Rise, the local yummy arti bread place, and also does wedding cakess and the like. AND Stacey Cakes at the market. I got a little plum tart. I got my world rocked. 1. Most perfect tart shell in the nation. Not too flaky that it disintegrated. Not too thick that it overwhelmed everything. Sort of vaguely graham-y? 2. Light fluff fluff cream cheese filling, tastiness. 3. Frest juicy plum and squishy yummy raspberries. So. Well. Now I’m dreaming of being a little baker and the star of some small town farmer’s market.

Oh my.

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